Radical changes to
the EU’s Schengen area have been floated less than a week after the
terror attacks in Paris raised questions about the future of the
border-free zone.

Five EU members —
Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg — talked
about creating a “mini-Schengen,” Bert Koenders, the Dutch
foreign minister, told the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant. It would be
a dramatically scaled-down version of the passport-free zone, which
currently has 26 members.

Bert Koenders, the
Dutch foreign minister, told the newspaper there were “very
exploratory talks,” although he did not use the phrase
“mini-Schengen.”

At a news conference
in Berlin Thursday, Thomas de Maizière, Germany’s interior
minister, said the Dutch had raised the idea on several occasions,
but Germany was not too enthusiastic. “Our political goal must be
that the Schengen area as a whole functions,” he said. “Everything
else would just be supplementary considerations.”

Civil servants from
the above “like-minded member states” are meeting in Brussels for
talks, an EU diplomat involved in the discussions told POLITICO
Thursday. “We discuss Schengen and how the current extra burden
through the refugee crisis can be relieved. This had already started
before the Paris attacks. The group also discusses how the [EU’s]
external borders can be better protected,” the diplomat said.

So far these
discussions have not led to any plan being presented to the European
Commission, the diplomat said, adding “our aim is to find a way to
ease the pressure on Schengen.”

A Commission source
said Thursday that they were “not aware” of a mini-Schengen plan.

Europe’s borders
and migration policies will be discussed by all 28 EU interior
ministers in Brussels Friday.

Some diplomats
called the mini-Schengen plan a way to put pressure on Italy and
Greece to do more to process migrants.

According to EU
plans, migration “hotspots” will have to be ready by the end of
the month. “Since many countries do not believe this will happen
for real, they are drawing up alternative plans,” said a EU
diplomat.

Dimitris
Avramopoulos, the European commissioner for migration, home affairs
and citizenship, strongly defended the Schengen area Wednesday,
saying it was “the greatest achievement of European integration.”